Happy Waitangi Day?

This is my own personal start to visioning what we are aiming for. It is not exhaustive or structured. Perhaps it will rouse debate or if people don’t like it they could write their own.

Happy Waitangi Day?

When our sovereign authority over our lands and resources is truly honoured;

When a handful of protestors have to take to the streets begging for deep sea oil drilling, fracking and mining to go ahead because our default position starts with protecting our earth Mama Papatūānuku from harm;

When Te Reo our native language is so mainstream that once a year we need an English Language Week;

When all public broadcasters fall over themselves to ensure they pronounce Māori words correctly;

When every learning institution can truly honour the identity of our Māori children;

When our iwi and hapū no longer have to fight to be considered an entity;

When we have stopped killing our babies and are truly living by “He taonga te mokopuna”;

When our young people are deeply rooted in love, identity and belonging that we do not need to launch Marae Youth Courts everywhere;

When if our own people do transgress, we are able to restore justice effectively with our own processes;

When our kids count down the sleeps to celebrate Parihaka Day on the 5th November;

When hapū are the default authority for their foreshore and seabed;

When we all know what Iwi and hapū we belong to, and can call our marae our home;

When local hapū are the permit authority for fishing, hunting, growing and all development on their lands;

When we have a “Crown Seeking Forgiveness” process instead of a Treaty Settlement process;

When we have to dig out our Pakeha elders and Pakeha performance groups because our public ceremonies are lacking without their flavour and authenticity;

When all our primetime broadcasters and morning tv hosts are not racist, at all, to anyone, and actually have talent;

When everyone in Aotearoa is warmly housed, fully fed, truly educated, gainfully employed, holistically healthy and ultimately honoured;

When it is normal habit to go into our bush and make our medicines to heal our own whānau and community;

When we have a Prime Minister who can honour our history of resistance and knows our nation is indebted;

When women are at every decision making cornerstone of this nation, from the speaking platforms and paepae of our marae to the ruling roosts in Parliament;

When our mainstream healthcare funding prioritises our traditional healing experts and approaches;

When our poor neighbourhoods have less prisons and more universities;

When all our people are uplifted and strong and powerful enough that we do not need to abuse alcohol, or drugs, or each other;

When no one would dare make a complaint about their local supermarket airing Te Reo over its loudspeaker;

When the percentage of Māori in jail is way down, and the percentage of Māori gaining Doctorate Degrees is way up;

When we are living our potential as healthy, strong, fit, longer living Maori;

When all our men are stronger and can truly embrace us all as warrior women;

When we have decolonised ourselves to the point where we can embrace love, sexuality, sensuality and passion the way we were all born to do;

……..only then might we truthfully be able to say “Happy Waitangi Day”.

Until that time indigenous resistance and solidarity around the world must continue.
Until then, I will keep the candle burning……………

Marama Davidson
(Te Rarawa/Ngapuhi/Ngati Porou)

Advertisement